Sheet of drawing material



M. FLEISCHER 2,238,106 SHEET 0F DRAWING MATERIAL Filed Aug. 24, 1939 INVENTOR Max: Fleischer Wwmg A ORNEYS Patented Apr. 15, 1941 1 UNITED STATES PATENT UFFICE.

su ar or DRAWING MATERIAL Max Fleischer, Miami Beach, Fla. Application August 24, 1939, Serial No. 291,663 J S Claims, (01. as -4,1)

This invention relates to a novel form of a sheet of drawing paper or other material which is provided with perforations to receive registeringpi'ns extending upwards from the surface of a drawing board whereby all such sheets similarly perforated will occupy the same position on the drawing board when placed thereon with the pins extending through the perforations, and one of the objects of this invention is to provide means whereby an extremely high degree of accuracy of position of such a sheet upon the drawing board, or in registry with another of such sheets also on said board, is secured and will be maintained despite much handling of the sheet when in place upon the board and despite repeated removals and replacements of said sheet. l

The benefits and advantages of such a sheet of drawing material are realized especially in connection with the production of motion picture cartoons which requires an initial production of "a large number of drawings of figures in progressive stages of animation, and since many of the successive drawings of the figures differ one from the other only in those certain details which represent movement, it is often a convenient practice in the art to make only one drawing of the portions of a figure in which no movement will be represented and to make separate drawings only of the portions of the figure which are to be represented in action. These drawings are usually first made on sheets of thin translucent paper provided with two, three or more perforations spaced along one margin so as to conform with the spacing of registering pins on the drawing board upon which they are placed during the drawing operation, After the paper drawings are completed, they are transferred to transparent Celluloid sheets by tracing or otherwise. These transparent Celluloid sheets are provided with similarly spaced perforations not only for the urpose of tracing on them the drawings on thepaper sheets, but also for mounting them in registry with each other when the picture to be photographed on the strip of motion picture film is a composite of several, usually three, of such Celluloid sheets, one or two only of which represent portionsof the figure in action and are changed between. exposures of successive frames of the film to give the effect of animation tothose portions.

In the making of the successive paper drawings it is the usual practice to use a preceding drawing as a guide for the next drawing which will represent a further stage in the progress of the anima tion. Accordingly the preceding drawing is placed upon the drawing board and a blank sheet of similarly perforated paper placed over it with the underlying drawing visible therethrough, the pins tending to hold the sheets against relative lateral displacement. With the underlying drawing as a guide the artist then draws the figure, or portion of the figure, in the next stage of animation. In this operation, and thereafter in tracing these drawings on the Celluloid sheets, the importance of preserving the same accurate position of these paper sheets on the drawing board as controlled by the engagement of the pins with the perforations will be readily appreciated. In the making of these drawings the plan is often followed of one artist making two drawings, one of which shows the figure at an advanced stage of animation while it is left for other artists to make the drawings which will represent the intermediate stages of animation, and in the process through which a drawing passes up to the time it is ready for tracing on Celluloid an individual sheet will be placed over the pins on the drawing board and removed therefrom from ten to fifty times, and each drawing while being made on a drawing board will be lifted up by the artist from fifty to two hundred times for a better view of the drawing beneath it.

Movement of the paper sheets about the pins may be prevented by making the size of the perforations such as to produce a close fit on the pins but since this entails the necessity of an even straight line movement of the paper simultaneously at each of thepins in placing or removing it from the board to prevent injury to the perforations, which in itself is awkward, and since it is the natural and regular practice of the artist in removing the sheet to lift it at one or both side edges, the two outside perforations are frequently made oval in form to lessen the likelihood of tearing the paper by such arcuate movement. This, however, concentrates the strain against movement in the direction of the row of pins upon the paper at the center pin. Because of the inherent shortcomings in the nature of paper to resist the strains placed upon the perforations, the ordinary handling'above referred to causes the paper in the region of the perforations to wear, stretch and tear so that the perforations become enlarged and deformed, with the result that by the time the drawings are ready to be traced on the Celluloid it'is difficult and sometimes impossible to maintain them on the pins in proper registry. In fact, it has been found that upon the first removal of such a paper sheet from the pins, an enlargement. of the perforation is perceptible and this becomes progressively greater with each subsequent removal. It has been found byexperience that the use of reinforcing washers such as of paper, cardboard, Celluloid or other material of low resiliency or capability of resuming original form or size provides no satisfactory solution of the problem since these materials under the aforesaid conditions of use likewise wear, stretch and tear, whereby the perforations are enlarged and deformed and the exact registry of the different sheets upon the board destroyed by the loose fit of the perforated sheet upon the pins. The consequence of this lack of registry is that the final motion picture is characterized by a jumpiness and flicker and lacks the smoothness required for a satisfactory picture, so that it often becomes necessary to make a retake of scenes which involves considerable expense.

All these difficulties, however, are overcome by the present invention which provides a sheet of paper or other material in which the perforations are of a slightly smaller size than that of the registering pins and the portions surrounding the perforations are of an elastic material which is highly resilient so that it requires the application of some little force to place the sheet over the pins upon the drawing board, involving some slight expansion of the material which causes it to hug the pins tightly and the perforations to resume substantially their exact size and shape upon removal of the sheet from the drawing board.

For a complete understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following de scription of a preferred embodiment of it and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view showing the sheet of drawing material embodying the invention in position upon a drawing board.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the three elements comprising said sheet in separated relation to each other.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of said sheet on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

I0 is a drawing board of convenient size which is provided with three upright registering pins II of circular cross section. paper provided along one margin thereof with three circular perforations spaced apart the same distances on centers as the said registering pins I I. The perforations I3 in the paper itself are conveniently of a somewhat larger diameter than I that of the pins II so that when the sheet I2 is in position upon the drawing board with the perforations I3 in coaxial relation with the pins II, the pins will not touch the paper and there will be sufficient space therebetween to permit freedom of stretch for the resilient washer next to be described. To the surface of the paper are attached by cement or otherwise three washers I4 having circular holes therein of a slightly less diameter than that of the pin II and disposed concentrically with the perforations I3. Three pieces I5 of paper or other suitable material having circular holes therein of approximately the same diameter as the perforations I3 and of an overall size larger than the washers I4 may be cemented or otherwise attached to the washers and the paper so as to retain securely the washers I4 in position on the paper. The washers I4 are made of a suitable elastic material characterized by a high resiliency, such as vulcanized rubber, so that when the paper sheet I2 is put over the pins to occupy the position shown in Fig. l, the perforations in the washer M will be slightly stretched by the larger diameter of the pins II and cause the circular edges of said perforations I2 is a sheet of drawing to hug the pins tightly. It will be noted that the difference in size between the diameter of the pins II and of the perforations in the washers I4 will be dependent upon the nature and thickness of the resilient material of which the washers are composed; for example, it has been found that where the washer is formed from a sheet of rubber of 0.018 inch in thickness and the pin has a diameter of 0.233 inch, the perforations in the washer may satisfactorily be about 0.190 inch in diameter. This causes but a slight distension of the perforations in the washer but sufficient to cause it to hug the pin with suflicient tightness to prevent any lateral displacement of the sheet on the drawing board from the ordinary handling, and in a case where it might be displaced by the application of an unusual force the resiliency of the rubber will cause it immediately to spring back into its former position when the force is removed. Moreover, since the material of the washer is substantially homogeneous and has the same quality of resiliency throughout the region adjacent the pin, the distension caused by placing the washer over a pin of slightly larger diameter will be equal radially throughout, thus preserving the axial alignment of the perforations with the pins and when the washer is removed from the pin the perforation in the washer will resume its original size and shape.

In practice it has been found advantageous to make the distances on centers between the perforations slightly less than the distances on centers between the pins. For instance, where three registering pins are used and they are spaced four inches apart on centers, then, with the material and thickness of the washers and the sizes of the pins and the perforations being the same as stated in the above example, the centers of the rubber perforations may be preferably of 3.992 inches apart. This slight difference, amounting to .008 inch, is insuf'licient to vary the stress on the rubber on opposite sides of the pins in the direction of the row of said pins to any appreciable extent so as to interfere with the exact registry of the drawings on the several sheets of paper but assures a slight tension on the paper sheet between the pins and the avoidance of any possible buckling of the sheet between the pins caused by a variation in the spacing of the pins on a drawing board, involving, for instance, a shortage of a few thousandths of an inch.

It will thus be seen that exact registry with each other on the drawing board of any number of similarly constructed drawing sheets of the present invention is assured despite the handling they may receive on the drawing board or in removing them from the drawing board or replacing them thereon.

It is obvious that many changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention; for instance, the sheet of drawing material need not be of paper but may be of any other suitable material, the resilient area adjacent the pins need not be of rubber but other material of suitable resiliency may be substituted therefor, and need not consist of a separate element attached to the drawing sheet but may be formed integral therewith.

What I claim is:

1. A sheet of drawing paper of low elasticity and resiliency provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to be readily placed upon and removed from registering pins, characterized in that the margin of each of said perforations is composed of a different and elastic highly resilient relatively thin material.

2. In combination, a drawing board provided with a plurality of spaced apart registering pins and a sheet of drawing paper provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to be readily placed upon and removed from said registering pins, said perforations being of a smaller area than. that of the cross sections of the said pins and the margins of said perforations being composed of an elastic highly resilient relatively thin material and the spacing of said perforations being sufficiently less than that of the pins to produce a tension on the sheet between two of said pins when in place thereon to an amount short of breaking the continuous periferal contact of the margins of said perforations with said pins.

3. A sheet of drawing paper provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to be readily placed upon and removed from registering pins, a plurality of relatively thin washers composed of an elastic highly resilient material attached to said sheet substantially concentric with said perforations, the perforations in. said washers being smaller than the perforations in said sheet.

4:. A sheet of drawing paper provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to be readily placed upon and removed from registering pins, a

plurality of relatively thin resilient and elastic rubb-er washers attached to said sheet substantially concentric with said perforations, the perforations in said washers being smaller than the perforations in said sheet.

5. In combination, a drawing board provided a with a plurality of spaced apart registering pins, a sheet of drawing paper provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to be readily placed upon and removed from said registering pins, a plurality of relatively thin resilient and elastic rubber washers attached to said sheet substantially concentric with said perforations, the perforations in said washers being smaller than the perforations in said sheet and of a smaller area than that of the cross sections of said pins and the spacing of said perforations being sufficiently less than that of the pins to produce a tension on the sheet between. two of said pins when in place thereon to an amount short of breaking the continuous periferal contact of said washers with said pins.

6. In combination, a drawing board provided with a plurality of spaced apart registering pins, each having a diameter of substantially about .233 inch, a sheet of drawing paper provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to receive said registering pins, a plurality of resilient and elastic rubber washers, each having a thickness of substantially about .613 inch, attached to said sheet substantially concentric with said perforations, the perforations in said washers being smaller than the perforations in said sheet and of a diameter of substantially about .19 inch.

'7. In combination, a. drawing board provided with a plurality of spaced apart registering pins, each having a diameter of substantially about .233 inch, a sheet of drawing paper provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to receive said registering pins, a plurality of resilient and elastic rubber washers, each having a thickness of substantially about .018 inch, attached to said sheet substantially concentric with said perforations, the perforations in said washers being smaller than the perforations in said sheet and of a diameter of substantially about .19 inch, and the spacing of said perforations being substantially about .2 per cent less than that of the pins to produce a slight tension on the sheet between two of said pins when in place thereon.

8. A sheet of drawing material of low elasticity and resiliency provided with a plurality of perforations adapted to be readily placed upon and re moved from registering pins, characterized in that the margin of each of said perforations is composed of a different and elastic highly resilient relatively thin material,

MAX FLEISCHER. 

